


We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good

by CaraLee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bullying, Child Abuse, Civil Rights, F/M, Family, Fluff and Crack, Friendship, Gen, Marauders' Era, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Pureblood Culture, Social Issues, Violence, Werewolf Culture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-22 21:25:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2522321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/pseuds/CaraLee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shots focused on the Marauders and Company. While most of these (unless otherwise specified) will all exist in the same, cannon-compliant, head-cannon universe, they will not be sequential or specifically connected to each other (unless otherwise specified.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hogwarts Express Memories

**Author's Note:**

> If I owned Harry Potter...There would have been a lot more of the Marauders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Contains allusions to child abuse. Please be aware.

Sirius chuckled as he flopped down onto the seat beside James, enjoying the frustrated look on Remus' face as he attempted to explain (again) some aspect of something or other. (Sirius had never been paying attention. That was probably part of what had Moony so irritated.) Prongs wasn't paying attention either, staring out the window with the blank look on his face that Sirius had come to learn meant that he was trapped in memories of the events of the summer. Being the sensitive, caring friend that he was, Sirius remedied the situation by kicking one of the crutches into Prongs' ankle with enough force that the Ravenclaws in the next compartment over were probably able to hear the resulting crack.

Prongs startled of course, but came back to where they were and what was going on pretty quickly, (that was getting better) and, after throwing Sirius a completely undeserved glare, was caught up in a discussion with Wormtail about different exciting things that had happened on the train in the past.

He himself had gathered a large collection of memories of the Hogwarts Express over the years.

Last year on the way home for Christmas vacation, (Or rather, to the Potter's home. Like hell was he going to spend Christmas at the Grim Old Place ever again.) Peter had blown the largest bubble they had ever seen (it had taken four and a half sticks of Drooble's) and then promptly gotten it stuck in Narcissa's hair (On accident, but it was still awesome. Anything that messed with Little Miss Priss was awesome.)

James had first asked Evans out on the Express. It was the end of second year and it hadn't gone too well. (It had been hilarious, who knew that shade of purple even existed.)

On their way to Hogwarts in second year, Remus had held a concert in their compartment. Remus really could play the violin very well, even when he'd been twelve, and it had been a nice change from listening to James ramble on about Evans or Peter ramble on about anything and everything. (Or, Remus said later when Sirius voiced this opinion, Sirius ramble on about anything and nothing. Mr. Padfoot chooses to ignore this statement.)

It was on the Hogwarts Express that Sirius had finally broken down and admitted to the other Marauders just how bad his home life was. (After Remus had set up about a dozen different privacy spells.)

In Fourth year, on their way _back_ to Hogwarts from Christmas vacation, James and the younger two McKinnon sisters (Elaine and Marlene) had gotten into some sort of competition in which they spoke with very (very, very) strong brogues and tried (and succeeded) to confuse the others. Sirius had tried to join in but the three highlanders had just laughed at his attempts. (So had Moony and Wormtail. Traitors.)

It was on the Hogwarts Express that Sirius had kissed his first girl. (He was thirteen, she was a fourteen year old Ravenclaw. It had been a disaster. Not that he would ever admit that.)

It was on the Hogwarts Express that he first cursed Bella. (And Merlin's beard did that _ever_ feel _good_! It didn't make up for all those years of…everything, but it did help.)

He and James had even managed to get the earliest detention ever on the Hogwarts express. They had accidentally pranked the head boy and girl in third year. (They had been aiming for the Hufflepuffs next door. They weren't stupid enough to deliberately target the _only_ two people on the train with the power to hand out detentions. Moony and Wormtail had nearly laughed themselves sick.)

But the best memory of all, Sirius mused as he watched Wormtail trying to tug Moony's book away from him (He was using it as a shield to block the crutch that Prongs was trying to whack him with.) was his very first one. The very first person he had ever met outside of the Black's supremacist circles. His very best Hogwarts Express memory, was meeting James Potter.

It had changed his life after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there was a look into Sirius Black's mind!  
> ***  
> So, like the summary says, this is essentially my Marauder head-cannon in one-shot form. Several of them will be like this one, introspective, while others will be a little more action-packed.  
> Such as...What exactly did happen to James Potter over the summer before sixth year?  
> That is for them and me to know and you to find out! *winks*  
> That story will be coming, eventually, once it is de-classified. (Hint, it has to do with the "thrice defying.")


	2. Fears and Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into what makes James Potter tick.  
> It's really stressful, being essentially responsible for three other people, especially in war-time.  
> Also known as "Potters have complexes. But we love 'em anyway."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This blurb is the result of my thoughts on James and the sad belief that Sirius was never really very stable.  
> Does contain allusions to child abuse. Please be aware.

James worries about them.

To the outside world, to the rest of the school, the Marauders seem like confident young men who have no doubts about themselves or what they want. But James knows that nothing is farther from the truth, because he _knows_ them. All three of them are his brothers, his to protect, and it is because he knows them that he worries about them.

Peter…Peter is still so nervous. James is worried about how he will handle leaving school. The wizarding world is officially at war now. (Finally, people have only been being regularly murdered since their second year!) Real war, a war that they will have to fight. And Peter…He isn't ready. No matter how hard James pushes in training, no matter how often he reassures the other boy, he isn't ready. James can only give him as much preparation and encouragement as he can, and hope that Peter will surprise them when the time comes.

Remus…Sometimes James thinks that Remus still expects them to turn on him. He has no confidence at all, and James worries that it will make him vulnerable. There are days when it is all they can do to convince him to leave the shelter of their dorm room and join them in the world outside. Days when Remus is so depressed that he wants nothing to do with anyone. Days when all the brilliant young werewolf can see is the long, cold road of life, stretching out before him. And James is angry on his behalf, because he knows that there are so many doors that are closed to Remus, simply because of something that happened when he was barely more than a baby. And he is afraid, because they are at war, and if something were to happen to the rest of them…Remus wouldn't have anything.

Sirius…James worries about him most of all. Because no matter how hard Sirius works and how determined he is, he is still, by blood, a Black, and every glance in a mirror reminds him of it. There are moments when James can see it, the madness, tingeing his eyes and speech and he just wants to tell his heart-brother to _hold on_. He is safe, with them, he is...loved. (Does he really have to say the L word?) James is afraid of what Sirius is capable of, and that it someday might happen, and that no one will be there to pick up the pieces when Sirius realizes what he has done, no one to hold him accountable and love him at the same time. James is afraid that someday, Sirius will break beneath the weight of generations of inbreeding and years of abuse, and let the madness take him. And he is afraid of his own reactions, and how he will handle the shattered mess of his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that the other three Marauders were probably a huge reason that James eventually did grow up (which he had to, for Lily to ever have gone anywhere near him.)  
> From the very beginning, he saw himself as being responsible for them, partly due to the culture he was raise in, which was still pretty feudal in some ways. (Seriously though, wizarding society...makes for some interesting situations.)  
> Despite his idiocy (which was very real) James never really lost sight of the fact that his friends were, in varying degrees and ways, NOT OKAY. He was just a teenage boy who wasn't always the best at handling that and figuring out how to help them.  
> Also, yes, this is before the Willow Incident and before Sirius runs away from Grimmauld Place and is disowned. (After Snape's worst memory though.)


	3. Dishtowls and Laughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was prompted by one of the early clips in a video on YouTube about babies laughing hysterically at dogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one-shot takes place in early-mid December the year Harry was born. The Potters are in hiding, but not yet under the Fidelius. It's early days, so James hasn't gotten cabin fever yet.

* * *

Lily sighed as she sealed the letter to Dumbledore and dropped it onto the portkey that would take it directly to the magically guarded safe in the Hogwarts Headmaster’s office. They had officially been in hiding for four and a half months and although Christmas was coming soon their isolated situation left her having difficulty finding any holiday cheer.

The portkey was sent off with a muttered “sieve, section, cork” and Lily sat back in her chair as she contemplated the small stack of stationary and Christmas cards on her writing desk. (An astonishingly beautiful rosewood antique with silver and mother-of-pearl inlay that James had said used to belong to his Great Aunt Mordag.)

She really wasn’t in the mood. What was the point in celebrating Christmas while they were hiding? Their only visitors were Sirius, Peter, and occasionally Remus, whenever he wasn’t on a mission for the Order out in the wild with some feral werewolf pack. It seemed like too much trouble to bother with putting on a festive façade when so much was on the line.

Her morose thoughts were broken by squeals of laughter and an accompanying clatter from down stairs, roused to curiosity, Lily descended the staircase, peeking around the corner of the hall into the living room.

James was on his back in the middle of the carpet, a rolled up dishtowel in one hand (Lily absently noted that it was one from the set that Petunia had sent them for a wedding present.) Minnaloushe was perched on the back of the sofa, yellow eyes wide as she tracked the movement of the dishtowel or, more likely, the large object attached to the other end.

Padfoot had his teeth clenched around the gaudy thing, trying to dig his paws in to prevent himself from following the towel as James pulled his hand up towards his shoulder before releasing. Despite Padfoot’s size, James seemed to be winning, repeatedly pulling his friend back and forth across the carpet.

Harry, sitting on the floor beside James’ head, wearing only a nappy, was laughing with joy each time Sirius came close, the large black nose poking him in the stomach. James was looking straight up at the ceiling, a wide grin on his face as he allowed Padfoot to back up before yanking him forward again.

Harry gurgled another laugh and Lily found herself breaking into a smile despite her sour mood. The joyful content on her husband’s face and the glee in her son’s laughter was hardly conducive to self-pity. She took a moment to consider and realized with a pang that it had been a long time since she had seen James so relaxed. Not since the end of sixth year at least.

A smile still lingering on her lips, Lily slipped back up to the study, determined to send out the best Christmas letters and cards ever. She dropped into her chair and pulled out a piece of the custom-made Muggle stationary.

She’d start with Alice. They could exchange baby pictures and stupid-husband stories.

Just because they were in hiding, didn’t mean that life didn’t go on and they couldn’t live it to the fullest.


	4. First Words

Harry’s first word was “Mama”

No one was surprised. James beamed, Lily laughed with joy, Peter gave quiet congratulations, Remus managed a small smile as he sat huddled at their kitchen table sipping tea while Lily treated his post-full moon wounds, and Sirius teased that their little Marauder was on his way to being a mama’s boy.

Minnaloushe watched the goings on with her usual detached indifference.

* * *

 Harry’s second word, predictably, was “Da.”

James was ecstatic, Lily rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm. None of the others were there that morning, but they all laughed when James told them, his euphoria contagious.

In the midst of the celebrations, Sirius stepped on Minnaloushe’s tail. The result was rather explosive.

* * *

 Harry’s third word was a surprise.

Lily had just brought him out to the living room where an impromptu Marauders Meeting was being held. The toddler had reached out his arms.

“Mooey!”

Lily had stopped short, James had tumbled from his perch on the back of the sofa, Sirius had snorted his butter beer, Peter just sat, blinking, (though he kept one watchful eye on Minna) and Remus had been speechless as he numbly accepted the little boy, who snuggled into his arms with confidence, knowing nothing of prejudice or fear.

Remus had sobbed into the little black curls, bewildering the child.

* * *

Harry’s fourth word was “Pa-fuh!”

Sirius had popped back into human form, much to Minnaloushe’s relief, and preened, Lily bopped him on the head with the newspaper and informed him that she could always introduce him to the joy of Muggle flea treatments if he didn’t stop strutting around her house like he owned it.

James had laughed at them all, and snuck off with Harry to go flying in the backyard.

Peter and Remus had been somewhere in the Black Forest in Germany. They were both back a week later, battered and bruised and bleeding, and Remus had new shadows in his eyes that Lily was afraid to ask about.

* * *

Harry’s fifth word caused some confusion.

James insisted that he meant “broom”, Sirius thought that “boom” actually meant “boom” as in an explosion. Peter, when pressed, sided with James. Minnaloushe likely had her own opinions, but was too busy grooming her singed fur to share them.

Privately, Lily thought that, under the circumstances, it could have easily been both.

* * *

(Harry’s sixth word caused Lily to chase Padfoot around the house with stinging hexes and a rolled up newspaper. Poor Minna got her tail stepped on again. It took almost an hour to coax her down from the attic. The poor cat was getting so very paranoid.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minnaloushe is Lily's cat, the poor thing that Harry "nearly killed" with his child's broom. (Really, I feel sorry for that cat. She lived a very stressful life once her mistress started dating James Potter.) She has a running feud with both Peter and Sirius.


End file.
